What age to allow/teach kids to stove top cook?
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I'm still not allowed.0
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I'm still not allowed.
Come over. I will have my son cook for you. lol0 -
Matilda was six.0
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1 year.
If they can walk, they can cook.0 -
All of my stepchildren, from 6 years old to 14, help their father and I cook. If they are in a mood where it seems like they are not going to be as careful as they need to be around a hot stove, then they are kicked out of the kitchen though.0
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This age seems about appropriate
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Matilda was six.
LMAO isn't she a little witch or something?0 -
This age seems about appropriate
:laugh:0 -
You shouldn't call people names.Matilda was six.
LMAO isn't she a little witch or something?0 -
my mom is old fashion and southern - I could cook a FULL thanksgiving dinner by myself by age 12.0
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All of my stepchildren, from 6 years old to 14, help their father and I cook. If they are in a mood where it seems like they are not going to be as careful as they need to be around a hot stove, then they are kicked out of the kitchen though.
I think I'll start teaching him now
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You shouldn't call people names.Matilda was six.
LMAO isn't she a little witch or something?
I like witches.0 -
my mom is old fashion and southern - I could cook a FULL thanksgiving dinner by myself by age 12.
That's awesome!0 -
At 33 I still probably couldn't even do this.my mom is old fashion and southern - I could cook a FULL thanksgiving dinner by myself by age 12.0 -
At 33 I still probably couldn't even do this.my mom is old fashion and southern - I could cook a FULL thanksgiving dinner by myself by age 12.
Word.0 -
At 33 I still probably couldn't even do this.my mom is old fashion and southern - I could cook a FULL thanksgiving dinner by myself by age 12.
Word.
My mom was born in Mullins, South Carolina and grew up on a farm. As soon as my sisters and I could safely reach the stove we were in the kitchen learning how to cook!0 -
Having 5 kids, some days it's do it yourself or eat a PB&J, I think the triplets where about 6 when I showed them how to do mac n cheese, grilled cheese, soup. Now at 10 they love to cook all sorts of stuff, my daughter even made the bread we had at easter, with me just watching her and giving instructions, it came out amazing. We also grow and can many of our own fruits and veggies, and they help me with that prep and process. They can also make pancakes, omelets, scrambled eggs and other stuff that's easy.
They also do all their own laundry, they are pretty awesome LOL0 -
My mom used to place a chair in front of the stove, with the back against the stove so that I couldn't fall flat on the stove. At first, I was allowed to dump a can of chef Boyardee in a an and stir to my heart's content. I learned the hard way that my lunch wouldn't be very good if I stirred and stirred and stirred. Lunch was after Price is Right and we threw out the TV when I was five, so it must have been pretty early on.
Next, I was shown the family recipes, like spaghetti sauce. Then I was left alone to make spaghetti sauce. The whole family learned that nutmeg is not an appropriate spice for spaghetti sauce.
Mom also made me a jiffy mix cake recipe that made one pot pie tin sized cake, so I was baking early, as well. I wasn't allowed to take it out of the oven myself at first, though.
All of my learning to cook memories are from the house we left when I was eleven. By the time I was twelve or thirteen, I was the main family cook when it wasn't basketball season.0 -
My son learned how to grill the same day he helped me butcher his first deer.....7 years old...0
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My son learned how to grill the same day he helped me butcher his first deer.....7 years old...
That's just awesome :happy: We too allow our boys to butcher live land catches that early.0 -
My son will be 9 in June. He loves to be independant and make his own food. What age did you parents start allowing your kids to heat things like soup or a grilled cheese on the stove? (supervised of course)
:happy: What a blessing you have there@ independent son who enjoys cooking!
As a legal guardian and with my God Children, I'd first introduced them to making salads whilst they were still toddlers (surely after their potty-training stages), so that'll be around the ages of 4 and 5, after they'd thoroughly washed their hands (whilst singing the Lord's Prayer or Happy birthday to me ~ themselves that is); At the ages of 6 - 8 was when I'd introduced them to doing chunk cuts (with vegetables and fruits, olives mainly), making sandwiches (mostly regular) and then soon after, soups and stews, baking (quiches/pies/cakes/breads/buns), pasta salads/bakes, roasts (vegetables only) and mini-grilling which I'd introduced to them well before they'd turned 11. *They'd had the use of the veggie-cutting (manual) gadgets, all without the use of a knife ~ which sat comfortably with me at the time. I'd also gotten them to look through picture cookbooks where they'd select what they'd wanted to try, which I'd use to my advantage for colour/counting/word building/shapes and textures exercises before I'd advance them with what I'd use as a library excursion exercise ~ basic use of the library (research skill) to find out as much as they could about their select ingredient within a set duration.
Kitchen safety plus health & hygiene awareness aside, an encouraging environment with the general ambiance (accommodating) allowing them to familiarise themselves with food (cuisines), as they develop physically, intellectually building up on their language base(s), whilst furthering their emotional layers & maturity with the forms of interactive learning forced through the kitchen base within their family homes~ allows them to become positively socialised and adept.
*I'd specialised in Child Care & Development as part of my Finishing School Curriculum so I didn't exactly go about it as I probably should've done with the children; Executed and delegated ~ without leaving any room for options ~ just activity filled and project oriented, with the fun base in good company, whilst they were on my watch.0 -
I was "helping" by 4 and was allowed to cook by myself unsupervised by 10. It really isn't an age thing, I think, it's more of a maturity thing. If your kid is 12 but he's irresponsible and likely to do something stupid while they're alone then maybe they should still be supervised. I don't think my mom feels comfortable with my little brother cooking on his own now...and he's 19.
Of course, he's likely to do something dumb, like the time when he was 15 and took a serrated bread knife and tried to sharpen it with the handheld sharpener...ask his middle, ring, and pinky fingers how that worked out!0 -
I would think 12 would be a safe age to allow kids to cook on the stove unsupervised. ...and maybe 8-10 with supervision. 0
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I was "helping" by 4 and was allowed to cook by myself unsupervised by 10. It really isn't an age thing, I think, it's more of a maturity thing. If your kid is 12 but he's irresponsible and likely to do something stupid while they're alone then maybe they should still be supervised.
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^^THIS! You have to make a judgement call based on maturity and following directions! I was a latch-key at age 4, cooking unsupervised at age 5, allowed to ride the city bus across town solo (>1 hr) at age 6, and allowed to stay at home all day (e.g. >8 hours) by myself at age 7.
I wasn't your typical kid. I grew up between 2 housing projects in a city that had a "nation's top 5" for per-capita homocide rate several years running. However, I was very risk-adverse when situations were properly explained to me. I avoided trouble like the plague, didn't invite kids over without permission, etc.
It's a good thing that Internet wasn't around when I was growing up! It was bad enough when I was a teen and they accidentally unblocked Cinemax for a month before my Mom found out!0 -
Thanks for all the replies! I am loving these stories!0
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Coolraul:
^^THIS! You have to make a judgement call based on maturity and following directions! I was a latch-key at age 4, cooking unsupervised at age 5, allowed to ride the city bus across town solo (>1 hr) at age 6, and allowed to stay at home all day (e.g. >8 hours) by myself at age 7.
I wasn't your typical kid. I grew up between 2 housing projects in a city that had a "nation's top 5" for per-capita homocide rate several years running. However, I was very risk-adverse when situations were properly explained to me. I avoided trouble like the plague, didn't invite kids over without permission, etc.
It's a good thing that Internet wasn't around when I was growing up! It was bad enough when I was a teen and they accidentally unblocked Cinemax for a month before my Mom found out!
I too was a momentary latch key child, as a toddler when I'd had to visit with my maternal grandparents, so I completely associate with how you knew your way about the kitchen as early as 5 ... My sister and I were always our Grandmother's 2ICs so breakfast was freshly made ~ beignets (and the like) ~ lunch was always about those one pot meal varieties with the essential freshly made breads or other side vegetable alternatives (rice/noodles/root vegetables), sometimes without supervision ~ enough to feed an entire village, so we'd always had to get up early for the fresh run to the grocers ~ unsupervised in the early hours of the morning ~ uphill, passing drunks and all forms of debris, knowing how to step, slide and sprint on command (ie reactive survival instinct).
From one who'd also lived in the Projects (as a toddler/child) only from a different part of the world, I must commend you for comfortably sharing your facet of how you'd first gotten introduced ~ out of necessity.0 -
My daughter started cooking about at 8 yrs old she is now going on 12 and she makes like soup...mac n chz.. eggs .. french fries and my son cooks also ... i just showed them once or twice and there they went :drinker:0
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They have to be tall enough to lift a pan of something off the stove without having their arms up above thier shoulders. Preferably no higher than chest level.0
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I was 8 and Mom got tired of constantly making me a completely different meal since I'm a picky eater. It was fried bologna.0
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9 or 10 supervised stovetop
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